I have decided to draw a line under the last show (No.4) and call it a day for The Model Maker's Podcast.

I am finding it more and more difficult to find the time to actually do any figure painting or terrain modelling, I hope to return to that side of the hobby in a few years when my boys are a little older and I can spare the time. So without the opportunity to test out and develop new modelling projects it is virtually impossible to continue with the podcast.

I am willing to pass on The Model Maker's Podcast to a new host, so if you would be interested in taking over, email me and we will see what we can do.
In "numbers of listener" terms the podcast was doing fairly well, averaging around 5 or 6 hundred listeners per episode (in fact Show No.4 has had 689 downloads), although feedback has been pretty minimal.

Well that's about it!

You can still here me talking about my other main interest, over at the Dial P For Pulp Podcast if you are that way inclined!

Thanks for listening, and please listen in to All About Miniatures and Meeples and Miniatures for more mini-gaming goodness!

Cheers
David Drage

Show No.4

Terrain Board Design

Pro-Create Putty and Website Round-up



Pro-Create Putty



In show no.1 I gave a brief review of several different sculpting putties, and I mentioned that there was a new one available that I had not tried. Well, after the show I was contacted by Tim at Kraftmark, the makers of the new putty ProCreate, they sent me a sample. I have had a chance to play with it a little now, and I must say I am very impressed with it. The putty is supplied in a clam shell pack and come as two parts, the resin is white and the hardener is black. When mixed they go a grey colour, obviously!

The instruction supplied with the putty explain that you can mix the two parts in different proportions to achieve different results, more Hardener and you get a softer, more flexible mix that should be workable for up to 3 hours.
More resin and the set putty is harder and rigid, making it fileable and machinable. With a setting time of around 90 minutes.

Clearly this means that you can mix different batches of putty for different parts of your figure, to achieve different things, making the putty very versatile.

I have found that the grey colour is also great to work with and is very easy to see detail on. The putty has a similar feel to greenstuff, so sculptor used to using Kneadatite Blue/Yellow wont need much practice to get the hang of it. It seems to hold detail extremely well.

I have not had a chance to complete a figure with ProCreate, although I am using it on several figures I am sculpting at the moment. I think that I can say that I will be using it on a regular basis from now on.

I have heard that some sculptors are mixing other putties in with ProCreate, I have not had a chance to try this yet, but I imagine that it'll mix pretty well.





Terrain Board Design

When I decided to make a new set of terrain boards there were several things that I had to consider. The scale of figures I will be using on them, practicality of making interchangeable boards, storage of the boards when I am not using them, and also ease of transporting them.

A lot of these questions come down to one question, "What size boards do I make?". Now for storage, versatility and ease of transportation, I feel that the best size to go with would be 2' or 600mm square boards.

This gives you a decent size board to put terrain features on (even for larger scale figures), without making the boards too large for storage and transportation. It also means that different table configurations can be put together to create good variation in table layout. Most gamers are happy to use a table that is 4' wide by 6' or 8' long. Most players can reach the middle of a 4' table, so that is a reasonable size to work with.

Now having said all this, I was given a large amount of polystyrene sheet, in various thicknesses, ranging from 50mm to 160mm. Clearly these were ideal for making my terrain boards with. Unfortunately most of them are only 18" or 460mm square, with a few being 18" by 36".

So it looks like my boards are going to have to be a little smaller than I originally planned. They are still a reasonable size for terrain features , definitely great for storage and transportation, the only real drawback is that when in use, my table layout will have to be 3' foot wide instead of 4. This makes it a little narrower than I would have preferred, but as I am doing more and more skirmish gaming these days I feel that I can get away with it as I am generally not going to have large 28mm armies fighting on it. I may occasionally use the boards for micro armour battles, but again the 3' width will be fine for that.

The next thing to do is to decide on the general terrain for the boards. Now clearly for most games a relatively flat table that you can put scenic items onto is going to be most versatile. However with the decent selection of thicknesses that I have this means that I can build a good range of different hills straight onto the boards and if layed out properly they should still offer the versatility I am looking for.

The thinner boards I have are all 50mm thick. Now this is pretty handy as it's the perfect thickness to use for my flat boards. It is thick enough to be rigid, but still thin enough that I can store the boards easily.

Now, as I have 5 sheets of 18" by 36" 50mm foam I have decided to use 3 of these boards as flat and featureless boards. This will give me a reasonable amount of flat table area to use either as open ground or to put extra terrain pieces on as they are needed.

I have decided to make the flat boards double sided so that I can put roads on one side and plain grassland on the other. I also have 2 18" square boards that I will use as plain flat boards. That will give me enough plain boards to be able to make any combination of different tables up, once combined with the other more specialised pieces.

Moving on to the deeper pieces of foam, so that they can be combined with the 50mm sheets they will need to be reduced down to 50mm on at least 2 sides, and preferably 3 or 4 sides.

There are 4 18" squares that are 160mm deep. I will use two of them to make sloping hill boards. 50mm deep across one edge and 160mm deep on the opposite edge.

I cut and shape the foam with a large kitchen knife, a bread knife to be exact. The fine teeth on the knife cut the foam well, without ripping it or leaving teeth marks in the foam. At the 50mm edge I will leave a flat area about 50mm wide then gently slope the foam up and leave another 50mm flat at the top 160mm high edge.

Before I start to cut the foam I make a card profile with the shallow S shape I plan to use, so that I can reproduce the same curve on each side of the boards. That way when they are sitting side by side they will fit together and create a smooth battlefield.

I then use a marker pen to transfer the cut line from the profile onto the foam.

This is where it gets messy! Anyone who has tried cutting polystyrene with a knife will soon find that you end up with masses of statically charged polystyrene "snow" everywhere. You will be absolutely covered in the stuff when you are finished. If you try to brush it off with your hands it sticks to them, it sticks to everything. The only really good way I have found to remove it is either to blow it off with a compressed air line 9in which case it just ends up somewhere else, or probably a better method is to clean yourself and your work area down with a vacuum cleaner. Of course the vacuum cleaner will end up covered in the "snow" as well, but you will get there eventually. Anyway the moral of the story is, don't cut polystyrene in your living room if you want your wife or partner to talk to you ever again!

Now the bread knife I am using has a 10" blade on it, so I can't cut right through the foam, it is simply a case of cutting carefully and following the cut line all around the outside, and eventually the scrap foam will come off the top. I wasn't too concerned at this point about getting a really smooth finish on the board, I just hacked the foam away until I had roughly the shape I needed. So long as the edges were all fairly neat the rest would be sorted out later.

As I said earlier I have 5 of these 160mm deep pieces, the third one I decided to use as a corner hill with 2 sides being 50mm deep and the other two sides rising up to 160mm at the far corner.

I used the edge profile I had made for the other two hills to reproduce the same cut line on this one so it would fit in nicely with the two hill I have already done.

The 4th piece of 160mm deep foam I have decided to use to make a stand-alone hill. This means that the board will need to be 50mm deep all around the 4 edges.

It will need to have enough flat area around it to make it look vaguely natural and I will need to carve the polystyrene off of the block with no drawn on guides around the outside other than the 50mm deep cut line. Before I started this I drew out several plans with contour lines so that I had a reasonable idea of the shape I was aiming for before I hacked into the block.

Standing staring at the block of foam, before I started gave me some idea of how Michelangelo must have felt, staring at his block of marble before he started carving his statue of David. I new my hill was in there somewhere, and I just had to carve away until I found it.

Anyway, once I had worked up the courage to start hacking into the block I soon started to get the shape I was looking for. Now this being quite a high hill for a wargaming table means that it will have fairly steep sides; not great for standing figures on as they tend to be top heavy and end up falling over all the time.

To counter this problem I have cut my hills so that they have plenty of flat ledges at different heights around them. This is something of a compromise between making the hills look totally natural and making the classic stepped hills many wargamers use for simplicity on their tables. The look I am after will combine the flat ledges that are practical, with a more natural looking effect, hopefully leading to a more attractive table.

The 5th piece of 160mm foam I have set to one side, so that I can use it for something special once I have all the basic boards ready.

I have one 18" square of foam that is 200mm thick. Now, rather than hack this up too much I have decided that this will be most useful as a high plateau. So, I have lowered all 4 edges to 160mm, ut left most of the board at the full 200mm thickness.

When combined with the other 3 hill boards this makes a spectacularly large hill at one end of a gaming table.

The final board I am going to make in the initial batch is going to be a pass or narrow defile between two hills. The foam block I am using is 125mm deep and again will be cut down to 50mm on all 4 edges. The pass in the middle will also be around the 50mm height right across the board.

Now, I have tried to leave a reasonable amount of flat area on the top of the two hills, so that they can have a good number of figures on them. However, this has meant that both hills have very steep sided with no real area for any figures to stand part way up them. I may have to alter them later on if I feel I need a more reasonable slope on them.

As these boards are to be used mainly for some pulp gaming I have planned I feel that the more dramatic look of this board is probably more important than making the hills more accessible for figure moving up or down them.

OK, I have designed and cut the basic shapes of my boards, I have a good selection of flat boards and hills. The polystyrene sheet is cut and ready. Now, polystyrene is not terribly strong, and if these boards get a lot of use they will get tatty very quickly, especially if I use them for demo games at wargames show. In the next show I will look at how I have toughened the boards and finished them off ready to start applying the colour and scenic details.



Website Round-up

This show, rather than highlighting one particular website, I am going to run through a few different sites that miniature gamers may find interesting.

Over the past year there have been several wargames related podcasts that have shown up. So far they all seem to have found a different perspective on the hobby.
I have subscribed to all of these and they certainly brighten up my commute.

Rather than give a review of each one I will just that I am enjoying them all, give them a listen and see what you think!

All About Miniature
http://allaboutminiatures.libsyn.com/rss

This is a general wargaming podcast.

Solo Wargaming
http://solowargamingshow.mypodcast.com/rss.xml

Clearly concentrates on the solo gamer.

Meeples and Miniatures
http://meeplesandminiatures.libsyn.com/rss

Mixes reviews of wargames, figures and board-games.

Miniature Gaming Podcast
http://miniaturegaming.mypodcast.com/rss.xml

This show looks at a different aspect of gaming wit each show, whether it be pre-painted miniatures, inspiration for games or constructing cheap terrain.

Now, as well as podcasts there are a couple of other interesting sites you might like to check out.

First off there is Colonel Marbles Miniatures Video Review. This is basically a Youtube video that is released on a regular basis and review the weeks new miniatures. It concentrates mainly on fantasy and SF minis, but does have the occasional historical figure as well, if they appeal enough to the Colonels discerning eye.
The videos can be found at the Tabletop Gaming News website
Direct Link to the videos!

Finally there is a new downloadable magazine for wargamers called:-

Wargames Painting and Modelling: The Online Hobby Magazine

The first issues is out and has some great figure painting articles as well as a really nice article about building an African style shanty town.

You can find and download the PDF magazine at:-

http://wargamespaintingandmodelling.wordpress.com/

OK, so I am still stuck in the middle of editing show No.4.

I feel that I am really letting my audience down with the ongoing delay to this show.

The idea was, that I would only do one show a month, but each show would be a little longer (probably around the 30min mark).

Also as has been pointed out doing a model making talk show without any visual support can make it a tad confusing.

So I am looking at the format again and now I think that a shorter show with a little more regularity would probably be easier for me to cope with.

So I am going to take the show down to one long article and one tip (Tool, Terrain, Sculpting or Painting), per episode.

The main articles will rotate between Figure Scultping, Terrain modelling and Figure painting.

The new show will probably top out at around 10 minutes.

As I have three articles already recorded, the first of which is pretty much edited, this should give me decent lead time to get things back on track.

Please let me know what you think of all this.

I am afraid that show No.4 is being further delayed due to the fact that my broadband connection has been down for over three weeks now.

I have been awaiting the arrival of a new modem from my ISP  for 2 1/2 weeks now (which was originally promised to arrive within 3 to 4 days).

As soon as I have an idea when I might be back online I will let everyone know. Hopefully it will be this weekend!

The Model Maker's Podcast, Show No.3,
Competition Time and Sculpting Tools

* Intro Music
Sussurus by Richard Gorman

The Model Maker's Podcast Terrain Board Design Competition
Sponsored by:-
Antenociti's Workshop
http://rattrap-productions.com/

Trailer*
Kick Ass Mystic Ninjas

Sculpting Tools

Figure Scale and Size

Outro*
Sussurus by Richard Gorman

 

 

 

 

Well, I can only apologise for the delay with show no. 3. I guess aiming at a fortnightly show may have been a bit over ambitious. Still, I am hoping to get back up to speed in the next few weeks!

Show 3 should be here in the next couple of weeks. So please keep checking back.

 

The Model Maker's Podcast

Episode #2 Show Notes

The Model Maker's Podcast, episode 2.
Building a Crannog and
Figure Sculpting Armatures
 
*Intro music -
Sussurus by Richard Gorman

*Tool Tips
The Pin Vice

TotalModels.co.uk

Squires Tools
Shesto Ltd 
Galeforce 9
Micro-Mark

*Building  A Crannog!

The Scottish Crannog Centre



The materials you'll need include:-

A base board, probably either MDF
or plywood, and at least 6mm thick,
possibly 12mm if you do the
stilted version.

Something to represent wooden
logs or branches to use to build
your crannog. I managed to find
an old blind that was made of,
what looked like very thin rattan
or bamboo strips, around 1-2mm
thick. As an alternative you could
use barbecue scewers or even
cocktail sticks although these may
look a little too even and machine
made for our purposes.

You will also need some thicker
dowels rods, probably around
6mm, a 1/4inch, if you are going
to build your model on stilts.

Some woven sacking - I got
hold of an old nylon woven postal sack.

Some cardboard sheet

Glue PVA, Superglue, Epoxy Adhesive

Modelling clay like Das or
epoxy putty like milliput.

And possibly some styrofoam
for raising the floor of your
model without adding much weight.

Midgies


*Show trailer
Yog Radio


*Terrain Tips
A Simple Water Effect

*Figure Sculping for Beginners:
Part 2 - Armatures

Masquerade Miniatures in Germany


Ormiston Wire



For larger scale figures, from
around 1/12th scale or larger
I would certainly consider using
an external support as well as the
internal wire armature. Most
sculptors of garage kits for example
use sculpting stands on most of
their projects.
I have put a photo of my sculpting
stand on the website to give you
some idea of how this is made.

Amazon Miniatures in the UK
Ebob Miniatures in the UK
Reaper Miniatures in the US

*Website Spotlight
www.terragenesis.co.uk

*Conclusion


Finally I want to put out a call for some
assistance. I want to include some articles
on figure painting in the very near future,
but to be honest I have not done any
serious figure painting for 3 or 4 years.
Between my day job, figure sculpting
and having a young family, I just don't
get time to do any quality painting
anymore.

So rather than having to trawl the
depths of my memory for any kind
of half decent painting tips. I would
ask, if there are any professional
or competition standard painters
out there that would be interested
in passing on a few tips, please get
in touch with me. You can either
record your own section for the show,
or I can read your scripted piece if
you would prefer that. Whether it is
a short 2 minute it tip each show, or
a longer tutorial every two or three
shows, anything would be great!

The music for today's show is by a
singer songwriter friend of mine
Richard Gorman, who can be found
playing in pubs around the Dundee
area from time to time.

I have a Yahoo group set up for discussing the podcast, please join in and let me know what you think.

Also any suggestions for articles would be great!

 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/themodelmakerspodcast/

I have added a Frappr Map at the bottom of the page, please put your pin in so I can get an idea where my listeners are!

Firstly the podcast will be published on a bi-weekly basis, hopefully on a Thursday.

Initial feedback has confirmed what I already was leaning towards - the powertool sound effects will no longer be used. Hopefully I will have something a little more musical next time!

Episode #001
Show Notes (29-11-2006)

Photographing Miniatures and

Sculpting Putties

* Intro Music
I Remembered by Etherine which
is available from magnatune.com.

* Introduction

* Tool Tips
Electric Toothbrush Sander

* Photographing Miniatures
Camera
Photo Size (Mega-pixels)
Minimum Focusing Distance
Background
Portable Soft Light Studio
Lighting
White Balance
Daylight Balance Bulbs

* Terrain Tips

* Show trailer

Nuketown Radio Active!

* Sculpting for Beginners

Part 1 - Sculpting Putties

Epoxy Putties
Kneadatite Blue-Yellow (Duro)
Kneadatite Blue-White
http://www.procreate.de/

Jeff Valent Studios

Milliput
A+B
Magic Sculp

Kneadatite Brown/Aluminium
Polymer Clays
Fimo
Sculpey

1listsculpting mailing list at
Yahoo-groups
Sylmasta.com

* Website Spotlight
http://jmbh.org/DremelTute.html

* Outro-Music
Burn Down The Pleasure by
Etherine which is available
from magnatune.com.

* Credits
The music in this show was provided
 by Magnatune.com. Magnatune is a
music download site that lets you
preview their entire music library
for free, name your own price, and
half that money goes directly to the
artist. Check out magnatune.com.